Cologne: A Food Diary

Cologne: A Food Diary

Each year the German Society at the University of Southampton arranges an Easter trip to a German speaking city, and this year Cologne was the chosen location. I thought that there was no better way to engage with the city than by trying to fit as many local delicacies into 4 days as possible.

Day 1

Upon arriving in Cologne we decided to try out the very German sounding ‘Golden Potato’ food establishment that was just around the corner from our hostel. After seeing that they

served a variety of Wurst we thought that it seemed like the ideal first meal of our German trip; sadly, upon further inspection I found out that our new found Aladdin’s cave of German delicacies was renowned for ‘hollӓndischen Speisen’ (Dutch dishes). The Kipcorn was the only Dutch speciality that I sampled and it’s a deep-fried chicken sausage; I realised that the description really doesn’t sound very appealing but I think it has to be tried to be appreciated!

Next was the Currywurst which was just a sausage covered in curry sauce; it didn’t quite live up to my expectations but it was nice enough.

To accompany our various sausages we had chips, which may seem very un-German but German chips are different to English ones in that all of the ones I have encountered have been covered in paprika.

After our first satisfyingly unhealthy meal we decided to explore the local Rewe and my two favourite German finds were Weiss Spargel (white asparagus), which is rarely found in English supermarkets and the fact that they stocked 2   varieties of paprika Pringles.

Day 2

For breakfast the next morning we decided to venture to a local bakery and found some beautiful bread and pastries- to see my (not particularly successful) attempt at replicating Laugenbrötchen look out for my next post!

Lunch involved more Wurst, more chips, and another German classic- the schnitzel. After ordering what I though was a Jӓgermeister sauce-topped schnitzel, I was disappointed to find out that Jӓger means ‘hunter’ in German, and I’d actually ordered the German version of hunter’s chicken. Despite the slight disappointment that Jӓgermeister wasn’t on the menu, it was really delicious!

We visited various souvenir shops whilst in Cologne and many featured strange objects in the shape of the Cologne Cathedral- food wise there were chocolate cathedrals and cathedral lollipops but my favourite was a piece of bread covered in cheese in the shape of the cathedral. Sadly, it wasn’t edible as it was only a picture on a chopping board, but I liked it so much that I thought it should get a mention.

After visiting the lock-covered Hohenzollern Bridge, we decided that a break was in order, which meant that more delicacies needed to be sampled. At a café near the Old Town I was delighted to find Spaghetti Eis on the menu, as my German lecturer had been adamant that it was something that had to be tried. As the name suggests, Spaghetti Eis is ice cream that is shaped to look like spaghetti and it is placed on top of whipped cream and traditionally decorated with strawberry sauce. A second dessert that we sampled was a waffle which wasn’t particularly German but very delicious nonetheless.

Exhausted after our busy day, we decided to order pizza when we arrived back at the hostel, which wasn’t a particularly German meal choice (especially considering that I had a Hawaiian); however, according to Germanfoods.org*, a high percentage of youths eat takeaway foods on a regular basis so you could say that we were doing as the Germans do.

* Eating Habits in Germany: Fast Food http://germanfoods.org/german-food-facts/german-meals-and-manners/

Day 3

Day 3 was a very good day because we went to the Lindt Factory, which meant that there was chocolate everywhere, sadly it wasn’t quite Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and the free

samples were limited to one Lindt chocolate and some melted chocolate on a wafer. The gift shop was the best find as it had a pic n mix selection of lots of chocolates that aren’t available in the UK.

That evening we had dinner at a restaurant called Sasan, where some members of the group were keen to eat as culturally as possible whilst others opted for the Thai curry. I had Schweineschnitzel with lemon and a side of Kartoffel Gratin (potatoes covered in melted cheese) which was very delicious, but apparently the Thai curry was also nice.

Day 4

On our last day we went to Bonn and we realised there was one classic German dish that we hadn’t yet sampled; the Döner. When thinking about German cuisine, a doner kebab is perhaps not the first thing that comes to mind; however, due to the large number of Turkish immigrants in Germany it is considered to be somewhat of a delicacy and not the post-night out necessity that it is here in England.

We managed to find a Döner shop and this was going to be the first kebab I’d ever had so I was dubious, but I was pleasantly surprised. Looking back at the photo it really wasn’t much of a feast for the eyes, but it was far tastier than it looked!

Post- Döner we were about to start our journey home but we had time to visit one last bakery and felt obliged to make some purchases.  We went for Apfeltasche (pastry filled with apples) and a chocolate Törtchen (which turned out to be layers of wafer covered in chocolate) which were both very delicious and a nice way to end our food journey in Cologne!

 

 

Disclaimer: I did have assistance in sampling all of these foods and definitely wouldn’t recommend it as a solo task!